ReverendRemulak

I just read my post from our semifinals loss to CoC last year… Groundhog Day. 

2 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

Let's talk about the game. One of the things that Pat talked about at the end of the game was how he went four guards and he took out SuliaJones (4pts, 9rebs). That was fine but the fact that team went iso and stall ball the last 2:30 minutes but before that, it was dreadful, is a systematic problem. But let's delve more into this collapse.

*Defense was fantastic. In that first game, I thought Charleston put on a masterclass of offense. An absolute clinic wasn't good enough. They weren't horrible, but the Cougars were fantastic. I thought this game was the opposite. We held the best team in the conference and the best offense by far to 61 freakin' points. They shot 38.5% from the field and 7-of-23 from 3pt (30.4%). 

*The offense was pathetic down the stretch and wasn't that good during the game. But when Tarke (0-8 FG) and May (3-6 FG, 1-4 3pt, 0-1 FT) give you nothing on on offense, you relying on three freshmen. Those three freshmen struggled late in the game, but May had a chance to tie it and throws up an air ball. 

*Charles was good but played just 29 minutes due to foul trouble. Had 14 pts and 6 rebs with three blocks. That's the best he played possibly all season, but why did we stop going to him in the post in the last 10 minutes.

*The bench is fine but Paar really struggled late in the year. Maybe it's the knees, but the hands were rough as well. But having him playing even 11 minutes was a detriment. Hewas a -12 and May was a -16.

 

We wasted a truly great defensive performance. All game I was complaining that we would get a stop or TO and either turn it right back to CoC or chuck up a bad shot. The lack of a half court offense continues to be a major problem. I said it in the chat - we often look like a group of guys playing pickup who don’t really know each other. We just sort of play around until it’s time to shoot.

Unsurprising, and yet I’m still crushed. Another year, another “almost.”

What a win. I’ll admit that somewhere in the second half I had my mind made up that the game was over. Very glad to look foolish on that. Impressive performance from the offense, with Kent in particular deserving a lot of praise. I’m not going to expect this every week, but damn does it feel good right now. I’m officially trusting the process. 

7 minutes ago, tigerjake said:

https://x.com/JakeShindel/status/1707066632210731313?s=20

Rob Ambrose makes his return to coaching as a defensive analyst at Maryland

Interesting that he's on the defensive side of things. Hope he does well.

On 7/5/2023 at 5:58 PM, TUvet said:

It was out there within the first week Matt. The only question for me was there any substance to the accusations, or was it just a disgruntled individual making the accusations. The fact there was discipline action taken indicates to me the accusations were substantiated and yes it had to be a breach of contract. The accusations were serious. 

Can you elaborate, or point us in the direction of where we can learn more? I haven’t seen or heard anything. 

Kansas will be my #2 team this year. Grateful for his time as a Tiger and wishing him all the best at KU. 

11 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

It is a meh pick up. But we can’t get any better. we are perennial  18-13 program with a first round CAAT exit. Not going to do much better. 
So hicks messiah and Charles the other two players better be steph curry and klay Thompson 😂😂😂

Like clockwork... 

15 hours ago, TSU88 said:

I could be wrong, but I think Cornish, at least at some point, was a teammate of Conway’s at Dulaney HS. He was a big time recruit coming out of HS. Still, I’m leery of guys who were highly touted and haven’t gotten off the bench at the big time program they chose 

Those Dulaney teams had some serious talent. Got to see them play in person a few times. Che Evans was arguably the biggest name on those teams and he ended up transferring from SDSU to UTEP to USC Upstate. I would not have guessed that none of those kids would have stuck at their original school. Nature of the beast that is the transfer portal I suppose. 

1 hour ago, Blounge said:

Yikes I’m seeing the line is 10.5 against #1 Virginia on Saturday

Hammer that. We are going to get abused. Hoping for a miracle, but this program is in a bad way right now. 

6 minutes ago, AtlantaTiger said:

Pat's definitely elevated the image and credibility of the program and I would think we could compete for some pretty impressive up & coming head coaches.  Time to capitalize on our respectability and get a solid new coach before we start to go in reverse and find ourselves back where we started when Pat first arrived.

Completely agree. People are as high on Towson as I've ever seen in my time as a fan and we need to keep that going. We have to keep this program moving forward and I have serious concerns about what the next few years will look like if we keep the status quo. 

The second half was maybe the most Towson way to lose. Have the lead and momentum, come out flat and choke it away, and then claw back to give us hope just to have our hearts completely broken at the end. Plenty of missed opportunities and head scratching "offense" throughout the second half especially. I never like to complain too much about refs, but they were bad last night. Calls were not consistent on both ends. I'm not going to pretend that's why we lost though. 

Despite some seeing it as blasphemous to say anything positive about this program or these players, I'll miss the Occasionally Big 3. They were inconsistent and frustrating at times, but when they were on it was a ton of fun to watch. I thought they had something special, and I suppose they did at times, but we just couldn't get over the hump. It's going to be hard to look back and feel anything besides disappointment about the last two years because of how these teams underperformed in March. I'm not going to blame things 100% on Pat (he doesn't miss the FTs, make guys chuck up insanely bad shots, forget how to rebound, etc.), but he's the common denominator here. I'm glad that we aren't a consistent bottom feeder anymore (not asking for a 20 win banner or parade, nor is anyone else - relax) and that we all have ever-growing expectations for this program. That said, it feels like we're stuck in the mud. Good enough to hover around 20 wins and be competitive during the regular season. And then, March. I agree with the sentiment that Dr. Steve has a chance here to make a statement about the future of the program. Is where we are good enough? Or do we want more? 

Here's hoping we hit the transfer portal lotto and don't have a lost season next year. 

I strongly dislike UNCW fans, but I'd be mad too if an opposing player did that to us. Cam is a complete headcase. Opposing coaches should be letting their guys know to try and frustrate Cam because it's just a matter of time before he gets T'd up/ejected. I'm really sick of it. 

On the happier side of things, I'm glad the team didn't have the same loser talk energy as some on this board and fought back and got the dub. Love to see a freshman with the big shot at the end of a game. This year as we approach the first week of March, the most trying of times for a Towson basketball fan, I am choosing cautious optimism. I won't get ahead of myself as I did last year and I won't let myself completely succumb to the doom and gloom. One game at a time, fellas. 

I know we aren't supposed to be positive about anything related to this team, so I apologize in advance 2012, but Nick has been awesome lately. I think he has 25+ in 5 of our last 7? Most career 3 pointers is pretty cool and he has a shot at the single season record as well. 

Moving beyond the positive from the game, I've said it before and I'll scream it over and over - if CT or Cam could consistently step up and play to even 50% of their potential, we would be a threat to make a run. Maybe if we don't foul so much (they shot 35 free throws!) or could hit our free throws (even the worst FT shooting teams can manage to shoot above 58%) we're feeling better today. I'm fully aware that if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas so it doesn't really matter. Just extremely frustrated. It was said over and over that this game didn't matter and I get that. I didn't expect us to win. It's just so annoying when we go out and do the Towson thing of almost getting there and falling apart. 

The program feels stuck. We aren't the 1-31 team anymore, but we aren't doing much more than 19-20 wins and an early exit from the tournament at best. I'm sick at the idea of looking back at this team and the last two years and having very little to show for it. Here's hoping I'm wrong. 

While I do think tonight is going to be an uphill battle, I absolutely believe that we can win. Going into their house and leaving with a W would be huge for the boys. I'm not sure I buy into the logic that winning tonight will make it harder to beat them again if we see them in the tournament. I think that proving we can run with and beat the top teams in the conference could be a huge confidence boost as we get closer to DC. Could just be that I don't see any games as meaningless and always want to see us win, period. 

Side note, is there a reason that Towson doesn't sell jerseys? Drives me nuts.

We all knew that Estrada wasn't going to miss all of his 3s and shoot 29% overall again. Dude is a baller. Such a shame to waste a great shooting performance and career high in points from Timber. If literally one other guy steps up, we win that game. CT cannot disappear like that in big games. I get that he got in foul trouble, but still. More fouls than points. 

The final two games of the season are shaping up to be massive. The next handful of games are absolutely winnable and beyond needing to get wins, we need to get our core going again. I know this is the type of loss that some seem to relish for whatever reason, but I have faith in these guys and the season isn't over. Take this last stretch to get right and get ready for March. 

It's really unfortunate how this season is turning out. I, like many others and certainly the players themselves, completely bought into the hype and let my expectations run wild. There was obviously high potential for regression and underperforming after last year, but this is just so bad. It's a bummer to think that this core group of guys that had such potential are likely going to limp to the end of their careers and fizzle out. One of the biggest "what if" teams since I've been a fan. That said, I still have faith that we can right the ship, even if only for those few days in March. If I keep saying it, maybe it'll come true. 

Anyone who refers to us as the "University of Towson" should immediately have their offer pulled. How little do you care to get that wrong? 

I was in the unimpressed camp when I first heard about the hire, but I'm becoming more and more of a fan. Pete seems like a high character guy who tries to treat his players right and build them up. I know how many of us took issue with Rob's apparent smugness and attitude so this is a welcome change. I also think that while we aren't a total rebuild or perennial bottomfeeder, we have been mostly middling for what feels like forever now. It's great to have a coach who has successfully gone through the process of building programs from scratch. He's certainly starting from a better place here than he did at his other schools and I look forward to seeing what he does with our resources. 

I really liked Steve's answers about this hire and the future of the program. We hired a winner and the immediate focus has to be becoming a consistent playoff contender. I appreciate his honesty about needing to fill Unitas as it is before we ever worry about expansion or whatever else, even if those plans already exist. I like the blend of optimism, drive, and realism. Call me naïve, but I feel good about the future. 

Back to back wins feels great. Hunter is an absolute stud. Would be great for the seniors to end their careers on a nice run and for the program to have some momentum heading into the regime change. 

What else is there to say at this point? There is really nothing to be happy about right now with regard to this program. New regime can't come soon enough. Dr. Steve and co. have a lot of work to do.

I'm pretty nervous for the future of our program and FCS as a whole. Several of the schools that have moved up in recent years have done well (JMU, App St., Coastal, Liberty) and I'm sure there are other consistently successful FCS programs who think they could do the same. For those of you who want to see us drop down a division, I fear you might get your wish when all is said and done because I do not see FCS/D1-AA continuing as-is and we are not even close to ready to move to FBS. Strange times. 

1 hour ago, Blounge said:

Wow if only this were us 🥲

I hate everything about JMU, but that’s cool for them. 

Hicks, Timberlake, Cam, Sylla, CT

This team has options. I could see Conway starting over Hicks and Russell for Sylla. The depth is looking great and we have a team that can move pieces around and play against the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. 

1 hour ago, Blounge said:

How come he didn’t play the good players more? Fire Rob he’s out of his mind

I wonder the same thing. I can’t find a reason why we aren’t putting the best players on the field. It’s not like what we are doing is working anyway, so why not shake things up a bit?